


Life As We Know It

by Slytherinchica08



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Hogwarts Era
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-10
Updated: 2019-05-20
Packaged: 2020-01-11 03:03:35
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 8
Words: 23,540
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18421491
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Slytherinchica08/pseuds/Slytherinchica08
Summary: The wizarding world is torn apart by war, yet even whilst the battle lines are being drawn, two people strike up an unlikely friendship. Could it be that a war designed to pull people apart is responsible for pushing Draco Malfoy and Hermione Granger together?





	1. Chapter One

It’s crazy how much can change in one day, let alone one hour, one minute, or even one second. Everything is constantly changing around us, but we don’t always notice it. But this, this was something that I couldn’t help but notice, no one could. Everyone’s eyes were fixed on the couple in the center of the room, it’s not like Ron and Lavender were even trying to be subtle about it, as they kissed passionately in front of everyone. And it was just like that that things had changed. I could feel the sting of tears prickle at my eyes and I turned sharply from the scene, not wanting to take in another second of the horrendous display of affection, if you could call it that. It wasn’t like Lavender had given Ron the time of day before his win, and would probably dump him by the wayside for the next biggest thing. As my heart began to shatter I quickly fled from the Gryffindor common room and went to the one place that I knew I would be alone, the room of requirement. 

I wasn’t even sure what Ron saw in Lavender. As her roommate, I had learned throughout the years that Lavender was what one would consider a mess. Not just in the way she kept her clothes, in what couldn’t even be considered as an organized mess, but also in her life. Just the fact that her favorite class was Divination spoke volumes about her. Of course she would enjoy a class that didn’t mean anything in life and fell for the sporadic words, or prophesies as she liked to call them, of Professor Trewlany. Lavender may be a pretty girl but I was sure that she wasn’t worth the headache that she would soon become. 

The castle was cold, as could only be expected of November, and I almost wished that I had stayed in the Gryffindor common room where the giant fireplace had been blazing. Or at the very least, I wished that I had grabbed a robe to keep me warm. I wiped at the tears that were beginning to fall, trying to convince myself that I was being silly; there was no reason to cry or be upset at Ron’s actions. After all, it wasn’t like I had any claim over him, even if I had once thought that something would become of us. But it didn’t seem to matter how much I told myself this, as my tears continued to betray me. It may have been two years since the Yule Ball, but there was still a part of me that hoped that Ron would buck up the courage and ask me out. Maybe I had read too much into the situation, or maybe he did like me. Either way, it didn’t matter now; he had Lavender Brown to keep him busy. 

By the time I made it to the room of requirement, my tears had become a steady stream, and my nose was running just as much. I quickly paced in front of the entrance, not wanting anyone else to come across me while I was like this, and slipped inside its doors once they appeared. The room was unlit and empty, just the way that I wanted it to be. Of course the room knew exactly what I wanted, that was why it was called the room of requirement, whatever you required it would become. And I had just wanted a place of solitude, somewhere that I could be alone in my misery. 

Alone, I thought as I wandered around the room, my hand dragging across the rough stone walls. Was I destined to always be alone? No one ever quite understood me and my passion for knowledge. Most of the time, I was mocked. Snickers behind my back as I raised my hand to answer a question in class, or sighs as I was once more praised in class. I had pushed them all behind me and kept on, knowing that I would have a better life than them. But would I really? Would any of this be worth it if there wasn’t anyone to share in my passion with? Books and cleverness was one thing, but in the end, that’s all that they were, just a thing that held no meaning. There was no companionship in them, no comfort, just words. 

A sound, like someone shuffling their feet, broke me out of my thoughts. My head darted around the room, looking for the source of the noise, but I found none. The room was as empty as it had been when I entered it, which meant only one thing. Maybe the room hadn’t been as empty as I’d thought. 

“Hello,” I called out.

Nothing, the room was eerily quiet. I continued walking, heading in the direction I had thought that I had heard the noise come from. At first, there was nothing but the sound of my shoes clicking on the stone floor. But just when I was about to give up and resolve that the noise had probably originated from me, I heard it again. 

“Listen, I know you’re there. Just reveal yourself now, or I’ll do it myself,” I said, grabbing for my wand. 

Still nothing happened. I raised my wand up, the spell on the tip of my tongue when another noise distracted me. This one however, came from the doorway. As I lowered my wand back down to my side, I watched in horror as the walls and room began to change around me. Someone was outside the doors and my place of solitude was soon going to be taken over. I watched in horror as the room took on the appearance of the Gryffindor common room and I stared as the door slid open to reveal the very couple that I had come here to escape. Lavender clung to Ron’s arm as she giggled at something he had just said, but I didn’t hear it. My face began to heat up as they started kissing feverishly, their hands both wandering each other’s bodies. They were unaware of the audience they had as they fumbled the rest of their way into the room.   
My mind was racing. What were they doing here? Why did Ron have to bring Lavender here? And why, just why, did he have to change the room so it reflected the common room? There was no escape for me. 

Even worse than that, were the thoughts of wanting to be Lavender that entered my head as I watched them. For just a split second, I let my mind wander and wonder what it would be like to be in her place. To know how it felt to have a guy pushed up against me, hands roaming my body, and his tongue seeking dominance against my own. Can you really feel the heat of a man’s hand through your clothes? Or was that just a wives tale that each person imagined merely because they knew that his hand was there? My face flushed a light pink color, and I shook myself from my thoughts.

They still didn’t seem to notice me in the room and I cleared my throat to let them know that they weren’t as alone as they thought they were. I didn’t want to wait any longer to get their attention, in case they started taking each other’s clothes off, and I was already scarred enough. Lavender jumped back from Ron, her face flushed, and caught sight of me. I had to give her credit, at first she seemed really embarrassed to be caught in the position she had just been in with Ron, but I knew that she was probably anything but embarrassed. She was probably gloating that she got to shove her relationship with Ron in my face for a second time this evening. 

Ron finally looked at me, and I glared at him; the scene of Lavender jumping onto him replayed itself in my mind. We all stood there, not saying anything. And the more that we stood there in silence, the more that it fed my pain and anger to my aching heart, and the more that I wanted to curse them. Why didn’t he just say something, anything? Or better yet, why didn’t they just leave? I was here first, I thought childishly, that meant I had every right to this room and they had to find another one. 

“Ronny, it looks like this room is already taken,” Lavender said finally.

Ron nodded his head, but made no effort to move. 

“Come on Ron, let’s find a different room,” Lavender tried again, grabbing Ron’s hand and pulling him in the direction of the door.

Ron shook her hand off and continued to look at me. His eyes held a bit of softness to them that I had never noticed before and slowly he took a step towards me. I could feel another tear escape from my eyes and stood transfixed as Ron reached his hand out towards me and then slowly took it back. That motion had hurt worse than watching him with Lavender. It was as if he was almost mine, and then he realized what he was doing, and who I was and remembered that I wasn’t what he had wanted. I turned from him as the tears began flowing anew. 

“Hermione,” he said my name like a question. 

That was all it took, I had snapped. I turned to him, anger flashing in my eyes, and raised my wand, gripping it with an intensity that scared me. I could do it, I knew I could and I could tell that Ron knew I could do it as well as he stared at my wand. Spells flashed through my mind and I gripped my wand tighter in my sweaty hand. I just had to say the spell, that’s all that I had to do, and then Ron would leave, and I could be on my own again. Alone, that’s all that I wanted. 

I held my gaze as Ron took a step back towards the door, and then another. He looked like he wanted to say something, but didn’t. I let my wand arm fall numbly back to my side, exhaustion set in and I didn’t want to fight with Ron any more. All I wanted was for him and Lavender to go away, for the pain to go away, but I knew that they, and it, wouldn’t. 

“Ron,” Lavender called from her place in the doorway, “just leave her.” 

He started to turn towards Lavender but stopped mid turn and stared in the far left corner, my right, the same area I had thought that I had heard the shuffling noise come from earlier. I chanced a glance over to the corner, hoping that whoever or whatever was hiding out would show itself. My eyes searched the area, taking in every detail I could make out but nothing stood out. It wasn’t until my head turned at the sound of the door closing, that I noticed a slight shimmer from the corner of the room. 

Ron and Lavender were gone, leaving me alone in the room, or at least as alone as I had been when I first got here. Someone else had beaten me to this room and had watched me fall apart. They had seen everything that had transpired between me and Ron and I didn’t like that feeling. I gripped my wand tighter in my hand and lit the tip of it, pointing the light ahead of me and took a step forward. 

“Who’s there?” I called out. I heard some rustling but nothing else. “Listen, I know you’re there. Just show yourself to me.” And then there was a light murmur, and after a moment’s pause a shadowed figure appeared where the shimmer had been. I could tell by the size and stature of the figure that it was one of a man but he stood with his back to me. 

“I’ve had enough of these games tonight, just turn around and face me.” I told the figure.


	2. Chapter Two

“Now, now, Granger.” The figure said as he turned towards me, the glee at having witnessed my humiliation apparent on his face. “There’s no reason to be so cold. I didn’t do anything to you. Then again neither did the Weasel which was clearly the problem so maybe you would be more intrigued if I did do something to you?” 

"Malfoy," I returned coldly. “What are you doing here?”

He didn’t respond, instead, he just continued to smirk at me which slowly turned into a genuine smile at my discomfort. I shifted my weight from one foot to the other, waiting for him to answer my question, but after a few moments of silence, I realized that he wasn’t going to answer. My interest was piqued though, what use would this room be to Malfoy, and why had he disillusioned himself? He could have just made it clear that this room was in use the moment that I came in, but instead he hid and watched me fall apart. I didn’t understand why. There had to be something going on that I couldn’t place.

"What are you doing here Malfoy?" I asked again, but this time, I was given an answer.

"I should think that I should be the one asking you that question. But then again, I think it's too obvious that the poor Mudblood wasn't even good enough for the blood traitor. How does it feel to know that even he,” Malfoy spat the word ‘he’ out as if it had left a bad taste in his mouth, “doesn’t want to be seen with the likes of you."

I hated to admit that his words cut through me, something I blamed entirely on Ron, and I choked back more tears. I was not going to let him see me cry again tonight, especially not from something that he said. And it wasn’t even that he had called me a Mudblood, but that his words were hitting close to home with how I felt. I felt dirty, as dirty as the name Mudblood implied. I felt rejected and humiliated and there was no worse person to witness those feelings in you then Malfoy. He would somehow find a way to humiliate me further, to manipulate this situation to help him. By tomorrow the whole school would probably know what happened in this room tonight and that mortified me.

“You’re one to talk,” I finally spat out, “hiding in the corner of a room, watching me.”

“You wish that I had been watching you Granger.”

His cockiness infuriated me and I moved closer to him. “You had been watching me,” I stated though it came out more like a question.

“The events of your life are menial to me. I couldn’t care less about what transpired here tonight, I have my own things to deal with and you are not among them.”

I had had enough and turned to leave, but before I had gone even two steps, Malfoy was suddenly in front of me, blocking the exit. My heart began to race, as fear settled in. He had this crazy look in his eyes, and only Ron and Lavender knew that I was here, and even if they said anything, nobody knew that Malfoy was here.

“Let’s get something straight Granger; you didn’t see me here tonight. I’ll even go as far as saying that I didn’t even see what happened, nothing happened here tonight.” I smiled and was about to tell him that he just admitted to watching me but was cut off. “Just leave it be. I’ll let you go, just don’t look back and not a mention of this to anyone. Got it Granger?”

“What are you so afraid of people finding out?” I asked him, knowing that it couldn’t just be about me catching him alone in this room, there was something much deeper than that. But what could it be?

“I said leave it Granger.” And that’s when I noticed it, the slight redness of his grey eyes, indicating that he had been crying not too long ago, or at the very least that he has not had a good night’s sleep in quite some time. Was it possible that Draco Malfoy had escaped to this room for the same reasons that I had? The room of requirement was a room that only a few knew about, though after tonight’s events I realized that even a few was too many, which made it the perfect place to go when you wanted to escape from everyone else. However, I didn’t see Malfoy as a person who would care much of what others thought of him which made it seem less likely that he would be here to escape others. But what other reason would there be to come here alone? 

Malfoy took another step closer to me, the distance between us now only a mere arm’s length away, and my heart began to race faster. What was he up to, I wondered as I searched his eyes for any meaning behind them. He didn’t look away, instead, he continued to look into my own eyes, and his face softened for just a moment before the mask went back up. But that one moment was all that I had needed to see the pain and suffering that he hid behind his walls.

“Malfoy,” I said softly, reaching my hand out towards him but he shrugged back.

“You better not tell anyone,” he responded, his voice once more held the harsh tone I was used to, “or everyone will know what you were up to tonight. And if I embellish the story a little bit, no one would ever know. So, if I were you I would keep my mouth shut.” At that, he turned and walked out the door, leaving me finally alone like I had wanted. 

I stared at the empty space that Malfoy had previously been in. What was that? For just one moment, I had been able to see the man behind his mask, and I wondered if maybe that was who he really was. Someone who was hurting deeply and maybe just needed someone to be there for him. Was Malfoy even capable of being the guy that I had seen in here tonight, the guy that just needed a companion, someone to help and guide him along? I shook my head; I couldn’t let myself think like that. I had to do as he asked, and just forget about the events that happened here tonight. I had to move on from all of this and not let him get to my head, though that was a little too late. His actions tonight were all that I could think about. He was broken, that much was apparent to me, but there was nothing that I could do about it. I was broken too, and I was the only who could pick up my pieces and put them back together, and that’s all that Malfoy could do too.

I let myself collapse onto the cold stone floor and let the tears fall once again from my eyes. This time though, it wasn’t just for Ron and Lavender and their budding relationship, but it was also for Malfoy. For the words that he said, the agony behind his eyes, and just how old he truly looked tonight. His face had looked well beyond his years, worry lines were etched into his forehead and his lips constantly pursed. He looked like the weight of the world was on his shoulders. And I knew that look well; it was the same thing that I saw every time I looked at Harry. Maybe the two of them weren’t so different after all.

After a while, I found the courage to stand back up on my feet again and return to the Gryffindor common room. Curfew was coming soon, and if the events of tonight were any clue, luck was not on my side and I didn’t want to push it. The walk back was long and lonesome and left me with way too much time to think about things that I didn't want to think about. Draco Malfoy was on the top of that list followed closely by Ron. I was still having trouble wrapping my head around everything that happened and Draco’s mysterious appearance and threats made it that much harder to ignore. I could understand why he had sought out the Room of Requirement, after all, it was what I had done too, but what I couldn’t understand was what had pushed him there? Maybe Harry was right, and he was up to something, but I still didn’t believe it.

The only other possibility in my mind was one that few would ever think about, at least when concerning Draco Malfoy that is. Was there a possibility that Draco Malfoy was stressed about Voldemort, and maybe he didn’t want anything to do with the Death Eater lifestyle that his parents upheld? Did he seek the refuge of an empty room to try and escape the Malfoy name? Was it all getting to be too much for him? I never felt that he was capable of the horrendous acts that a Death Eater submitted too, he liked to delegate those tasks to others, and besides that, the worst thing that he had done during our time at Hogwarts, was call me a Mudblood. That didn’t make him a Death Eater. That just made him weak.

My thoughts were interrupted as I slipped on something and looked down to see what it was. As soon as I did, I knew exactly where I was and it brought a small smile to my face. I was on the sixth floor, just before where Professor Umbridge’s office had been last year, the exact place that Fred and George had left their portable swamp. The small remainder of their swamp was a bit of a legend around Hogwarts and served as a reminder for those of us who had been here what we had gone through and that maybe sometimes, pranks were necessary.

The common room was still abuzz with activity when I finally reached it. It seemed that the lateness of the hour paid no heed to the volume of noise that barraged all of Gryffindor Tower. First years were even still among those celebrating loudly. I wondered for a moment if I should send them to bed considering their curfew had already come and gone, but for tonight, I decided to let them be. After all it was a weekend and they didn’t have to worry about classes the next day.   
I felt strange as I watched everyone else laugh and have fun, like I didn't exactly fit in with them. My thoughts were so far away from the Gryffindor common room that I wasn’t even sure they could find their way back here. They were preoccupied on a certain blonde in the dungeons, as it was, I was so preoccupied that I didn’t even notice that Parvati had walked over to me.

“How is your night going Hermione?” she asked me, breaking me out of my thoughts.

“It’s alright Parvati, and yours?” I politely asked back, even though really I didn’t care.

She began to gush about the night’s events that I had missed while I had been gone. Apparently Ron wasn’t the only Weasley being kissed in the middle of the common room as Dean had kissed Ginny not too long after Ron and Lavender disappeared. Of course everyone had speculated as to where the two had gone off to, and they still hadn’t returned to the common room even though our curfew had already passed by. Then the conversation turned in a direction that I had not wanted it to go to, where had I run off to in the middle of the party.

“I was- I was in the library studying. I had just remembered something else that I had wanted to add to Professor Slughorn's essay about the important uses of powdered bicorn horn.” It was true enough; I did want to add in another detail about the ingredient most famous for its use in the Polyjuice potion, I just hadn’t actually gotten around to it yet. Parvati just looked at me as if I had sprouted a horn of my own for mentioning homework on a Saturday, and at a party no less.

“Well, it was good talking with you Hermione,” she said and then walked away to join in with a few girls who were giggling about Harry.

He was sitting alone on the couch in front of the fireplace, mindlessly throwing wads of parchment into the fireplace. Every once in a while he would look up and glance over by the window and the return to throwing the parchment, each time he did so, it was with even more force than the last time he looked over there. I followed his eyesight, and realized just what or who, was at the source of his misery. Of course I should have realized when Parvati told me that Ginny and Dean hooked up that Harry would be in the same boat as me. Why hadn’t I thought of it earlier to talk to him? Surely he would understand how much it hurt.

I walked over to him and sat down, tearing off a small portion of his parchment and wadding it up. The two of us sat there for a bit, neither of us saying anything, just the sound of shredding paper supplying a silent conversation between the two of us. If it were Ron that I was sitting next to, the silence would drive him insane, even though the common room was anything but silent. He always seemed to think that someone had to be doing or saying something.

Harry leaned into me and bumped my shoulder with his before leaning back into his spot as if nothing had happened. I smiled a bit and leaned myself into him, hitting him slightly harder than he had done to me. He tipped to his side and a smile flashed across his face. I had to admit that in that moment I realized just how striking Harry actually was. There was a twinkle in his eyes, and the fire light danced across his face, and it was one of the few moments that I couldn’t sense the chip that was almost always present on his shoulder.

“What does it feel like Harry,” I asked him, “when you see Dean kissing Ginny?”

“Probably about how it felt for you to see Ron and Lavender’s display.”

“You noticed that.” I flushed.

“Hermione, you had been right next to me when it happened, how was I not supposed to notice?”

“I guess. Well, if it’s any consolation, I don’t think that they will last,” I told him, trying to cheer him up.

“Who, Ron and Lavender? Me neither.”

“No, Harry, Ginny and Dean, I don’t think that they’ll last. They’re not meant to.”

“I just don’t want to see her hurt. I mean, she’s Ron’s sister,” he began.

“Harry, she’s not just Ron’s sister. It’s alright if you like her, I’m sure that Ron would understand.” He sighed and went back to throwing balled up bits of parchment into the fire, not saying another word. "I think I'm going to call it a night Harry. You did great today," I spoke to him quietly as I got up from my spot.

"Thank you Hermione," Harry called out to me.

I nodded and gave him a small smile before walking up the steps to the sixth year girls’ room. I felt a little better now after talking with Harry, and as bad as it may have seemed, I was kind of glad that I wasn't the only one who felt this way tonight. And in a strange way, it was nice to know that even Harry Potter could feel this way sometimes. It served as a reminder that even the people that are usually held to higher standards deal with the same pain. That thought of course brought me back to my earlier thoughts about Malfoy. Most people suspected that he didn’t feel anything at all. However, after tonight, I knew that something was able to get under his skin and break him down; I just didn’t know what that was. 

The room was empty when I entered it and the silence was a nice reprieve from the chaos that flooded the common room. I plopped down on my bed and looked around at the mess that my roommates had left it in. Lavender's bed was a mess of makeup and clothes, and the trunk that was at the foot of her bed had its contents strewn about. Parvati's was nearest to the door and in a similar state of disarray as Lavender's, though hers was contained to just a small portion of her bed. Mine was neat and organized. Everything had their own place; even my nightstand was placed in its own precise position, making sure that it was within arm’s reach. 

The last two beds were pushed up against each other, creating one large bed. Those belonged to Sarah and Lisa. The two of them were always together, even before they came to Hogwarts, and many people suspected that they were in a relationship as they could be seen holding hands throughout the castle. But none of us knew for sure. Even after sharing a dorm with them for the past six years, I could only hazard a guess as to the true nature of their friendship.

I fell back onto my bed and tried to fall asleep, but sleep evaded me. All I could see were the pink rimmed eyes of Draco Malfoy or the moment that Lavender threw herself onto Ron, and neither of those thoughts were conducive of sleep. I wasn’t sure how long I had lain there, replaying the evening’s events through my mind, before a noise from the doorway caught my attention. I looked up, hoping that it was anyone but Lavender, and sighed in relief when Sarah and Lisa barged through the door. They were giggling about something and slightly leaning into each other, as if they were each trying to hold the other up from all of their laughing, and I couldn’t help but envy them. There they were without a care in the world, even though the whole school thought that they were together, and sometimes I even thought that they just played along with it just for fun. So how was it that even they could be happy but I was miserable? 

Was the toll of books and cleverness to be alone, to have no one who truly understood you the way that it seemed these two girls understood each other? No, I refused to believe that knowledge was an undesirable trait. Maybe it was just one that few were undeterred from, making the connection an even deeper and more satisfying one. Because what could be more satisfying than sharing your knowledge with another person and learning theirs in return? It had been with these thoughts that I was finally able to slip into sleep, dreams of a man who would someday understand my passion and thirst for knowledge.


	3. Chapter Three

The next morning I woke up feeing rather groggy. At first I didn’t remember the events of last night and all of the tears I had shed in the room of requirement. But when it did come back to me, I groaned. Of course it would be Lavender and not one of the many other girls at Hogwarts that I did not share a dorm room with to swoop in and get Ron. It had to be someone that I couldn’t even escape into the comfort of my own room to get away from. Instead, I would have to listen to her gossip with Parvati about her relationship with Ron and just how far they had gotten. How far had they gotten, I wondered? They had been gone an awfully long time last night; surely it was enough time to do that, wasn’t it?

No, I didn’t want to think about those things, I berated myself. But suddenly, that was all that I could think about. I pictured Ron and Lavender in a passionate embrace, their hands both wandering over each other’s bodies like I had witnessed in the room of requirement. Their movements were frantic, as if they needed each other, and I guess in a way they did. Ron would be the dominate one, I had decided, and would easily overtake Lavender and would quickly turn things from a passionate embrace into a more heated and aggressive one. There would be no space between their bodies as they clutched to each other and began to explore the other’s body more intimately.

I wondered what it would be like, to get kissed like that, with so much passion and aggression, and to have someone pull you closer to them and want to touch you all over. How would it feel to completely lose control over your body and submit to your emotions? Would I even be able to let someone to be dominating over me, to follow their lead in the moment of desire and lust? Or would this too be another area that I had to take control of? Could I ever be as carefree as Lavender had seemed when Ron kissed her? Honestly, I wasn’t sure that I was capable of it, after all, letting go and not over thinking things were not strong points of mine.

It was that thought that made me realize that that was exactly what I was doing, over thinking things. What Ron and Lavender did, or do, should not be my concern. Even if Lavender makes it a point for everyone to hear all of the sordid details, it wasn’t like I had to listen in on it. And who knows, maybe last night was just a one night thing for the both of them and Ron would be ready to tell me how stupid he had been last night to wind up with a girl like Lavender. Maybe he would admit that he should have been with me last night instead.

That had to be it, I decided, as I finally got out of bed and began to get ready for breakfast. Ron would be ready to apologize to me at breakfast about his stupidity and I would accept, telling him that it was all swept under the rug. Maybe he would even ask me to go with him to the Hogsmeade visit this next weekend. I smiled and sort of skipped out of the room, ready to face Ron and get the events of last night pushed behind us.

Of course I was completely ready to do that until I entered the Great Hall and found Lavender Brown perched in my usual spot next to Ron. If they had decided that things were better off left to just one night, then why was she sitting there as close to Ron as she could without actually sitting on top of him? He didn’t seem to be telling her to move over, though he also didn’t seem to be conversing with her. Instead, he was shoveling food into his mouth as if it would disappear if he didn’t eat it fast enough. You would think that after six years he would realize that as long as people were there eating, the food would just keep appearing, but I guess not. Maybe Ron was just being polite and would tell Lavender later that things weren’t going to go any farther than they had last night. Either way, I slowed down, but still continued making my way over to my spot, thinking that maybe Ron would move over to make room in between him and Lavender for me to sit. I stood behind them for a moment, waiting for someone to take notice that I was there, but when no one did, I cleared my throat to catch their attention.

“Oh, hey Hermione,” Ron said as he turned in his seat to look at me. I silently pleaded in my head for him to move over but instead he turned back to his food and continued to shovel it into his mouth. I sighed, and walked around the table to sit next to Harry who had moved over slightly to give me room.

“How was the rest of your night?” Ron continued, in between bites of food, as I sat down.

I decided not to answer him, and instead turned to Harry. “Hello Harry. Did you have a good evening?”

“Um, yeah it was alright Hermione. How was yours?” Harry asked back, even though we both knew that the evening had sucked for both of us.

“Oh, you know, it was alright. I went to the library and did a little bit of homework but other than that it was nothing special,” I responded, making sure to glance at Ron when I said that it was nothing special.

“My night was pretty good as well,” Ron tried to throw in but I continued to ignore him and instead began to pile some food onto my own plate.

I could tell that he was confused about what he had done to merit this type of behavior from me and I was honestly glad that he didn’t know that he was at the root of my problems. Well, him and Lavender. He kept giving me glances throughout breakfast but I wouldn’t make eye contact with him. It hurt too much right now, and the fact that Lavender would swoop in and kiss him randomly did not make it any better.

Just as I was about done with breakfast, I noticed Draco get up from his spot at the Slytherin table and begin to leave the hall. There was something about last night that still didn’t seem to sit quite right with me and I decided to follow him out, hoping to find out more about why he had been there. He was only a few paces ahead of me so it wasn’t hard for me to catch up to him.

“Malfoy,” I called out as I closed the space in between us.

“What do you want Granger?” he asked as he stopped and turned around to face me.

“I-,” I began, not knowing exactly how to ask him my question so instead I went for something else. “I just wanted to say thank you, you know, for not saying anything about last night.”

“What about last night? I already told you Granger, last night never happened so there was nothing for me to say.” He turned around and began to walk away.

“Why were you there Malfoy?” I asked, my curiosity getting the better of me.

Draco turned on his heel and headed back over to me, a glint in his eyes. “Let’s get something straight Granger, when I said that nothing happened last night that means that nothing happened last night. However, I am more than willing to tell everyone how you made a complete fool of yourself drooling over the Weasel king, as he shacked it up with some other girl. Makes you sound rather pathetic doesn’t it? Then again, what am I saying, you are nothing more than a pathetic Mudblood.” At that he left, and I made no attempts to stop him as the sting of his words coursed through me.

There was definitely something more going on with Draco Malfoy and I was determined to find out what it was. He always seemed to use threats the most when he felt insecure about something, like any bully does, and I wanted to know what was throwing him off balance. It couldn’t help that his father was currently locked away in Azkaban for the events that had happened at the Ministry at the end of last school year, and Christmas was only a month and a half away. That would definitely put a damper on things, but I couldn’t imagine that that was the source of his problems. I would imagine that having Lucius locked away in Azkaban would be as much of a relief to Draco and his mother as it was for the rest of us. Could it be that Harry was right, that Draco was now a part of the Death Eaters? It would certainly explain his deteriorating state since we’ve returned to school.

“Hermione,” someone said, jarring me out of my thoughts. I turned to see who was calling for me and realized that it was the least person I had wanted to see right now, Ron. “Listen, about last night-“

“I don’t want to hear it Ronald,” I sighed, turning away from him.

“There’s something you should know,” he continued, and I stopped in my tracks, hoping that he was going to admit that it had been a mistake. “If I’d have known that you were there, in the Room of Requirement that is, well, I just want you to know that if I had known, I wouldn’t have taken Lavender there.”

And just like that, I was crushed flat. He wasn’t telling me that being with Lavender was just a spur of the moment thing but instead that he was sorry he had taken her to the same room I had run off too. But that wasn’t even the worst part. No, what he said next took me completely by surprise.

“I mean,” he said, his face suddenly flushing a brilliant shade of red, “if I would have known that there was someone else there with you, we would have left you two alone, to do whatever it was you were doing.”

“What?” I asked. What did he mean that if he had known I was meeting someone there he would have left me alone? And just what did he think I was doing with this other person?

“Last night, before I left, I could have sworn that I saw movement from the far corner. You know, you didn’t have to hide him from me, it’s not like I’m going to tell people who you are shacking up with.”

“I’m not shacking up with anyone Ronald!” I screeched at him, my face flushing at his insinuations.

“Oh, well that’s good.”

“And what’s that supposed to mean?”

“Geez Hermione, what’s got your knickers in a twist? It didn’t mean anything.”

“What didn’t mean anything Won-Won?” came Lavenders voice as she approached the two of us.

“Nothing,” he said as he let Lavender pull him away from me.

I stood there for a moment longer, still confused about the events that had just happened. Honestly, what had happened? Did Ron seriously accuse me of sleeping with someone? And to make it worse, the person that he thought that I had shacked it up with was Draco Malfoy. Not that Ron knew who was hiding in the corner of the room the night before. But that didn’t matter; he still thought that there was someone that I had snuck away from the Gryffindor party to go meet, and with a girlfriend like Lavender, I didn’t know who was going to find out.

I looked around quickly, trying to see if anyone had overheard my conversation with either Draco or Ron but everyone seemed to be going about their own business. I sighed in relief and began to make my way back to Gryffindor tower to grab my school books. Last night I had told Parvati that I had been in the library studying, and while that had been a lie, it had been true when I told her that I had thought of another bit of information I wanted to add to my essay for Professor Slughorn.

The hallways were bustling with people that morning, most bundled up to enjoy the warm winter day with their friends, homework a far thought from their minds. Others however, had the same idea as me, and carried stacks of books towards the library to finish the homework that they pushed off until the last minute. It was a wonder to me how they could push their homework off every weekend without a bother and then rush to finish it on Sunday. There was no way that they could get in nearly enough information with only a few hours to satisfy the requirements. I usually revised each essay set at least three times to make sure that I had answered the question fully, and with each revision I found myself remembering another detail that had been left out. So surely if even I left something out after hours of work and three revisions, that meant that their essays would be nowhere near perfection.

The common room was pretty much empty, only a few people scattered about the room playing Exploding Snap or Wizard Chess. Ron was perched at his usual Sunday afternoon spot, challenging Neville to a round of chess. I watched as a one of his pieces slid across the board and knocked out one of Neville’s pieces, I still thought that the game was barbaric. Lavender was the only one from the table to notice as I walked by them, Ron and Neville both deep in thought about their next movements. She shot me this sort of smug smile before leaning in closer to Ron, running her hand through his hair. I watched in amusement as Ron knocked her hand away as one of Neville’s pieces knocked out his own and he leaned in closer to the chessboard looking over the situation.

My books were still packed away in my bag next to my bed, I had been planning on doing my homework last night, until my night had taken a detour to the Room of Requirement. I didn’t like the fact that I was now one of the many people who had waited until the last minute to finish off my essay. It was a strange feeling to know that my essay still needed some revision on a Sunday afternoon. Usually my last revision was completed on Friday night so that I had all weekend to read ahead on the next lesson. Now I wasn’t even sure if I would have the following day’s material completed, and it left a slight unease in my stomach. How would I be able to answer the Professor’s questions if I hadn’t properly revised? And what would that do to my grades? I was currently at an Outstanding in almost every class, receiving only an Exceeds Expectations in Defense Against the Dark Arts and Arithmancy. I couldn’t afford to have any of my other classes drop down to an Exceeds Expectations, because that would be anything but acceptable to me.

I stalked into the library, both annoyed with my confrontation with Draco and Ron, and the turn my thoughts had taken. Having not one, but two, Acceptable scores was a bit of a sore spot with me and just merely thinking about it set me on edge. I set my books down at a far corner table, most of the others already taken, though it seemed like few were actually doing any work but instead, discussing the newest gossip going around Hogwarts. It seemed like everyone else though that the personal lives of others were much more important than making sure that their homework was completed for the next day. That was, everyone except for one small table a little further back than my own, were all caught up in gossip. The two at the small table seemed to be much more interested in each other than anything else, and I gasped as I realized just who the two students were.

Draco pushed himself back from Pansy and whispered something to her before turning to the books on his table and began to scribble away at his parchment. Pansy looked defeated as she sat back in her chair and looked around the room. When her eyes met mine however, a mischievous glint came into her eyes. I watched as she leaned into Draco and whispered something into his ear. His head snapped up from his homework and looked over to me, a calculated grin spread across his face. They stood up and made their way over to me, Pansy dancing in excitement at whatever it was they were going to do.

“Like what you see Granger?” Draco asked as they came to a stop.

“I don’t know what you mean Malfoy,” I scoffed trying to play it off.

“You really must get a thrill at watching people. First it was Weasel and Brown and now me and Pansy. What would people say if they knew that the golden girl was actually a peeping tom?”

“I was not watching you. I was merely glancing around and I happened to see you two do whatever that was.”

“It was called kissing Granger, not that you would ever know what that is. Who would want to kiss a pathetic Mudblood like yourself?”

Pansy cackled next to Draco at his insults. They thought that they were so clever, coming over here and insinuating that I enjoyed watching them. There was only one problem with their plan; Draco wasn’t holding all of the cards. I had a secret of his that he didn’t want anyone to know; it would be a shame if I happened to let it slip now with Pansy standing right next to him.

I shot him a smirk of my own before responding. “You know Malfoy, it’s funny that you mention how sick it is to watch someone because I seem to recall that I wasn’t the only one doing the watching last night. So really, if anyone is a peeping tom, that would be you. Casting a disillusionment spell on yourself and hiding away in a corner of the room, not making any effort to leave, it’s almost like you were hoping that something would happen.”

His face turned a dark shade of red and he balled up his fists before slamming them down on the table in front of me, causing my organized piles to slide into each other. I could feel my heart racing furiously inside my chest, and for the second time in two days, I was honestly afraid of what he would do. At first, he didn’t do anything, he just glared at me, but then he stood up and began to walk away.

“Come on Pansy, there’s no point in sullying ourselves with the likes of her.”

Pansy turned and began to follow after Draco, calling out behind her, “You’ll get what’s coming to you, Mudblood.”

I let out a breath that I had been holding since Draco’s fists hit the table, and rustled my parchment back into their places on the table. He was just trying to rattle me, and I wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of knowing that he had managed to do so. I dipped my quill into my bottle of ink and began to write away, letting the familiar task comfort my still racing heart into a normal pace.


	4. Chapter Four

The next weekend brought with it the last Hogsmeade trip before Christmas break. And even though Ron and Lavender were still together, I was excited about the day ahead of me. There was just something about getting that perfect gift for someone that always made me happy. I had plenty of ideas of the many gifts I would pick up today, and with an undetectable extension charm on my bag, I wouldn’t have to worry about how I was going to carry it all back to Hogwarts later.

By the time I got down to the Great Hall, it was already busy with activity. Groups of students clustered around the hall yelling to each other where they wanted to go to first, and what they planned to buy. I spotted Ron and Lavender up by the door with Harry and sighed. Harry had been my one hope for the day as Ginny was sure to be off with Dean Thomas. I guessed that I would have to go it alone today, not that that bothered me too much as it meant I could get the shopping done that I wanted without interruption. It would make Three Broomsticks a little lonely though, but I supposed that I didn’t have to go for the usual drink there, and could instead head back to the castle to get ahead on my reading.

The heavy wooden doors opened, allowing the cool wind to blow its way into the entrance of the castle and I bustled closer into my jacket trying to escape the sting. It was lightly snowing outside but the gust of the wind made the cool day look worse than it really was. Everyone began to push forward, still excited to make the trip to Hogsmeade, even though the wind had a cruel bite and was not letting up. Snow had blown up into my face the moment I stepped out of the safety of the castle, and I quickly wiped away at the wet residue and continued to follow along behind the crowd. If it wasn’t for the wind, it would probably have been a nice winter’s day and I would have been much more inclined to take my time to get to Hogsmeade as I usually did. But that day was not one to dawdle outside. Instead I planned to make my way to the farthest building I needed and then work my way back towards the castle. I knew I would have been one step ahead of everyone else, who would surely have sought out the first building or The Three Broomsticks just to warm up. I didn't have to worry about waiting to check out which would mean that I would get back to Hogwarts earlier to study.

I could see the entrance to Hogsmeade just through the clearing up ahead and many of the groups of people began to run ahead, excited to finally be there. Bells rang out as doors to shops opened in the distance, the first groups already reaching the warmth of the town. I had to admit, I wasn’t as excited about this trip as I usually was, even with the Christmas shopping to get done. There was just something about shopping with friends that made it a wonderful experience and you couldn’t fully appreciate it until you didn’t have anyone to be with. I hated that Lavender had done this to our group. It was her fault that I was alone and not with Harry and Ron. Couldn’t she have gone with Parvati and claimed that she needed a girl’s day? I had already lost Ron to her, but did I really have to lose Harry too? 

The Three Broomsticks was already crowded as I walked by, not allowing myself to stop; I was still determined to get to Scrivenshaft’s Quill Shop to begin my Christmas shopping. I couldn’t help but look in the frost stained windows as I continued by, trying to locate either Harry or Ron. My heart plummeted a bit as I finally spotted Ron. He was trapped underneath a sprout of Mistletoe near the bar, and I watched as Lavender tiptoed up to him and wrapped her arms around his waist. From my position outside, I could hear the cheers as she kissed Ron to release him from the trap of Mistletoe. I ducked my head down and continued on my way, and tried to hold back a few tears. It didn’t seem to matter how many times I had seen them kiss in the last week, each one was another stab to my heart. I hated that Lavender made me feel like this. I was a highly logical girl but no matter how much I tried to reason with myself, I couldn’t help but let my emotions come over me at the thought of her with Ron.

Scrivenshaft’s Quill Shop was just up again and I ran to get inside, hoping to escape from both the weather and Ron and Lavender. The familiar scent wafted over me the moment I opened the door and I couldn’t help the contented sigh that escaped my lips. Not only did Scrivenshaft’s Quill Shop sell an abundance of Quills, but it also housed many different types of parchment as well. And it was the scent of parchment that permeated the air. It was also the very reason that I was here. Last year for Christmas, I had gotten my mother a brown leather bound journal with the Hogwarts crest on it and she had loved it. She quickly filled it, with what, she wouldn’t tell me, and begged for me to get her another one. I figured that year, I would get her two.

The journals were along the back wall, and I easily made my way over there, no one else had made it this far into Hogsmeade yet. I let my hand run along the covers of the journals as I read the descriptions of each one. Some made it so that only the owner of the journal could read what was inside of it, while others left inspirational messages to the writer. There were also others that would make Fred and George proud, as they spouted off jokes. Not sure of what they were being used for, I decided to buy a red and gold bound one that had the Gryffindor crest on it that would only allow my mother to read what was inside, and then also an inspirational one that was bound in a sea green color. The journals were a bit pricier than I would like to admit, and while my coin purse got lighter, my spirits rose. I wasn’t thinking about Ron and Lavender any more, but instead allowed myself to get fully submerged into doing all of my Christmas shopping.

My father was going to be a quick buy as well. The last time he wrote to me, he mentioned how cold this winter had been already and that the poor circulation in his hands really made it hard for him to be outside. And I knew that Gladrags Wizardwear had a pair of self-warming gloves that would be just perfect for him. Tomes and Scrolls would be my next stop though, as it was just across from Scrivenshaft's. 

Of the stores down Hogsmeades main road, Tomes and Scrolls was by far my favorite store. I could spend hours alone just wandering through the shelves of books. It was always a quieter store, very few students finding the need to buy a book when they could just as easily spend their money at Zonko’s or Honeydukes. The bell of the shop rang as I opened the door, and it seemed that nobody else was there, not even the owner Mr. Bleakly could be seen behind his usual post at his desk.

“Hello,” a voice I recognized as Mr. Bleakly’s called out from the back of the room. “I’ll be right out to help you.”

“Take your time Mr. Bleakly,” I told him, “it’s just Hermione.”

Mr. Bleakly was one of the shop keeper types to make sure that he knew each customer’s name just as fondly as he knew each book title his shop held on its many shelves. He was a kind balding old man, who had a passion for books. There were many occasions that he would make sure to save his newest arrival for me behind the counter, each a book that he promised that I had to read. And he was right. Each book he presented me with was somehow better than the last.

“Oh Hermione,” he said as he staggered around the corner of the room, “I’m so glad to see you in here. I was most disappointed when the last trip had been cancelled, but nevertheless, I saved you some good ones.”

“You didn’t have to do that Mr. Bleakly.”

“Well who else am I going to share them with?” he asked as if no one else ever paid his store a visit.

“Would you like some help Mr. Bleakly?” I asked as I continued to watch him hobble with difficulty. I had never once wondered about his age, but as I took in the tired sunken in look of his face, I realized just how old Mr. Bleakly had to be. And it wasn’t just his face that looked every bit of his age but also his stature. He was normally rather tall and thin, but because of his hunched over state, you would never be able to tell.

“Don’t worry about me,” he said, seeming to read my thoughts on his poor state, “there’s still some life left in me yet.”

He bent down behind the counter and came back up with a small stack of books. There were a total of four black leather bound books, and it looked as if they were relatively old, the yellowing pages the only indication of age. I watched as Mr. Bleakly ran his hand across each book fondly, as if they were an old friend, before he slid them across the counter towards me.

“I can’t afford to buy this many books,” I told him; as I pushed back three of the books, holding onto only the top one. “I still have most of my Christmas shopping to do, and I have already spent more than I had meant to.”

“These books aren’t for sale,” he whispered, as he wiped away at his eyes, a stray tear making its way down his wrinkled face.

“I don’t understand,” I said as I placed the book back on top of the other three.

“I want you to have these books, no cost,” he took a deep breath and then continued on. “These were my wife’s books, her most favorite, and I’ve held onto them for all these years. But now as my condition continues to deteriorate, I’ve realized that they will do me no good. I will soon be joining her but I want to make sure that the things she held most dear, these books, that they will be well taken care of. I’ve watched you for years come into this store and admire each book in a way that I had only ever before seen her do, so please, take these.”

“Are you sure?”

“Miss Granger, I am more than sure that I want you to have these books. I hope that they give to you what they gave to my wife.”

“Would you tell me about her?”

"I would be honored to,” he told me and wiped away another tear.

I listened as he told me the story about how he and his wife Helen had met at Hogwarts all those years ago. They were in differing houses, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff, but he said that to him, there was no one prettier, or smarter, than her. He could recall with great clarity the day that he finally asked her out. It was toward the end of their sixth year and he could see her reading under the old tree by the Black Lake. And the wind had rustled her hair a bit and he said that he knew in that instant that he couldn’t wait another minute to ask her. He approached her, and she looked up from her book- at that, he pointed out the top book in the stack, and she smiled at him. He could recall his heart racing at her beauty and he asked to sit down next to her. They spent the rest of the day hanging out under the tree as she shared with him the book she had been reading. When it was time for dinner, he helped her up, and said “I have loved you for several hours now, and every second, more.”* It had been a quote from the book she had just read to him, and he could recall the smile that came to her face as he leaned in and kissed her. She had passed on ten years ago, but he said that in the quiet of the night, he could still picture her just as beautiful has she had been when he first met her, curled up with that book.

The bell rang out, signaling more customers had entered the store, and I hastily wiped away a tear that had fallen at his touching story. We shared one more look before he turned and made his way over to great his new customers. I grabbed the four books off of the counter and took great care of placing them in my bag, now knowing just how priceless the gifts that Mr. Bleakly had given me were.

“Can I help you find something?” I heard Mr. Bleakly ask.

“We don’t need your help, old man.” I couldn’t help but gasp as I made out who his new customer was, Draco Malfoy.

“Well, if you do decide you need something, I’ll be just right over there,” he politely responded, completely ignoring Draco’s rude comment.

“Draco,” came another voice I recognized as Pansy’s, “why won’t you tell me what you were doing last Saturday. It had to be something big if you were willing to miss the Quidditch game.”

“Let it go Pansy.”

“No Draco, I won’t let it go. That Mudblood Granger saw you that night, and now there’s rumors going around that she was meeting up with someone. I’m not stupid Draco, and I don’t think that you would do anything with her, but you aren’t giving me anything else to believe. I can help you-” but whatever Pansy was going to continue saying was lost as Draco cut in.

“I’m done here Pansy. You can run back to Blaise like I know you do when you think I’m not looking.”

With that, the bell rang out once more as someone left the shop. I could only hazard a guess as to who left, but my suspicions were proved correct as Pansy rounded the corner with a book tucked under her arm. I watched as she wiped away at her eyes, trying to hide the fact that she was crying, before she spotted me. Her eyes got big and then I watched as her face transformed from a look of sorrow to one of anger.

“What are you staring at?” she snarled.

“Nothing,” I told her and turned to wave at Mr. Bleakly. “Thank you again for the books, and the story, she was a very lucky woman.”

“Not as lucky as I,” he responded and began to total up Pansy's books.


	5. Chapter Five

A few weeks later, I still found myself ignoring Ron and Lavender, who seemed to be closer than ever. This proved to be problematic for me as I had been expecting to go to Professor Slughorn's Christmas party the following evening with Ron. While I would be able to save myself the hardship of using another full bottle of Sleakeasy’s Hair Potion, it would seem rather pathetic to go it alone. Not to mention, that this would finally give me a chance to make Ron jealous. They always say that food is the way to a man’s heart, but I knew from experience that the way to Ronald’s was through jealousy. He had not taken kindly to me going with Viktor Krum to the Yule ball two years ago, and I hoped that he would have the same reaction tomorrow. If he showed even the smallest amount of jealousy towards my date, I could at least hold onto a hope that Lavender would not be a permanent fixture in his life.

Now only one problem remained, I had to find someone to go with me tomorrow night. And it wasn’t like I could take just anyone, I wanted Ron to get jealous after all, and if I took someone like Neville, Ron would chalk it up to nothing more than friendship and the plan would never work. I sighed as I looked around the Gryffindor common room, trying to find someone who would make Ron jealous. There weren’t many guys here that would do the trick, or at least not to the extent that I wanted them to. But there had to be someone who would get Ron to react with such furor.

At first, I thought of Zacharias Smith. He was relatively good looking and after the way that he commentated the Quidditch match a few weeks ago he would definitely annoy Ron. But I wasn’t looking to just annoy Ron, and decided that Zacharias would be a last moment choice. Surely there had to be someone who would make Ron jealous? Ron was on good terms with almost all of the Gryffindor’s so that made asking any one of them harder.

Then I heard it, that laugh. It belonged to one of the only Gryffindors that Ron could not stand. Why had I not thought of it before? Cormac Mclaggen had tried out for Keeper against Ron earlier in the year, and ever since then, Cormac seemed to rub Ron the wrong way. It didn’t help that Cormac was also a member of the Slug Club, an honor that Ron had not received. And it had seemed like Cormac had been interested in me earlier this year. I hoped that he was still interested and dateless for tomorrow’s party.

It took a while to find him through the packed common room, it had seemed that everyone decided to push off their packing until at least tomorrow night and were instead taking advantage of not having curfew. Cormac was with a couple of his seventh year friends on the couch laughing at something one of them had said. I watched them for a moment and wondered if I really wanted to do this. There was a reason after that I had ignored Cormac’s advances at the beginning of the year. Of course, it only took one look over at Ron and Lavender in the corner of the room, to set my plan into stone. This would all be worth it in the end if I could get Ron jealous.

I stood off to the side of the room for a moment and watched Cormac interact with his friends. They were the typical guys, making lurid jokes and suggestive comments. It was a wonder that any girl could be interested in them. But even I had to admit that he was good looking. He was a tall and broad shouldered boy, with short dirty blonde hair and blue eyes. The least attractive feature was his over confident smile that was almost always plastered on his face. As a matter of fact, if it wasn’t for his arrogance, I wouldn’t be dreading an evening being spent with him.

“Cormac,” I said, as I approached his group, feeling slightly nervous at asking him in front of his friends, but it was now or never. “I was wondering if you would like to go to Slughorn’s Christmas party with me tomorrow night.”

His friends lightly sniggered at me but Cormac ignored them. “I would be delighted to take you Hermione,” he said, that over confident grin taking over his face.

“That’s great,” I replied, not at all excited about the prospect of spending the night with him.

***

I got down to the common room just a few minutes before Slughorn’s party was set to start and looked around, Cormac was nowhere to be seen. At first, I let out a small sigh of relief; I wouldn’t have to put up with his arrogance all night. But then I saw Ron, and remembered that the whole point of asking Cormac was to make Ron jealous, and I couldn’t do that if Cormac didn’t show up. I was about ready to give up on Cormac, when he finally came down from the boy’s dormitory, and with perfect timing too. Ron had just begun making his way over to me, when Cormac cut him off. I wasn’t sure if Cormac knew my plan, or if he had his own reasons to want to make Ron jealous, but I watched as he shot Ron a crooked grin as he grabbed hold of my hand.

“Cormac,” I said, sliding my hand out of his.

“Are you ready for our date, Hermione?” he asked loudly, Ron’s face and ears turned a deep shade of red.

“As I’ll ever be,” I responded as he tried to slip his arm around my waist, but I easily moved out of his embrace. I could just hear him whisper over the common room activity, “you slippery little minx,’ and I sighed, it was going to be a long night.

When we made it down to Slughorn’s party, it was already in full swing. His office was completely transformed from the normally cold and dim lit room into a bright and warm one. There was a roaring fireplace on the far side of the wall giving off the majority of the heat and light, but there were also candles floating in the air with scattered bits of mistletoe to accent them. The mistletoe made me nervous though, and had to keep in mind to watch where I stepped tonight, so as to not get caught under it. I definitely wouldn’t put it past Cormac to try something tonight and the mistletoe would do all of the work for him, keeping the person trapped underneath it until they were freed by a kiss.

I jolted in my place as Cormac positioned his hand on the small of my back and began to lead me around the room. Slughorn was off to the side of the room, nearest the fireplace conversing with Michael Corner, and looked rather disinterested in the conversation, when he caught sight of me. He quickly made excuses to Michael and skirted around the room to reach me.

“Ah, Miss Granger, Mr. McLaggen, glad to see that you could both make it to the party. What do you think of it?” he asked us both, gesturing to the whole office.

“It’s wonderful, Professor. I must say, you did a really great job with the decorations,” I told him as I gazed around the room once more.

“Well thank you Miss Granger, but actually, I uh...I had the house elves do the work,” he said, as his cheeks tinged with a light blush at my praise.

I was about to tell Slughorn exactly what I thought, that using the house elves in such a way was demeaning and that they had better see some form of pay for their job, but was cut off by Cormac. “My Uncle Tiberius told me all about the parties that you threw back in the day; he said that there was nothing like them. I have to say that I agree. You have quite the set up and even the help look presentable, which for some, this is probably the first time that they do.” At this he eyed up Neville from across the room passing out whatever was on the silver tray.

Cormac turned back to Slughorn and continued to go on about his Uncle and just how close they were and I took my opportunity to leave. I backed away slowly at first, not wanting Cormac or Slughorn to take notice of me leaving, and once I was at a safe distance, I made sure to blend myself in with the crowd. There was a snack table that I spotted near the door, and I made my way over to it, wanting to grab some pumpkin juice.

“There you are. I wondered where you had gone off to,” Cormac said as he stepped in place next to me at the table.

“I wanted something to drink, and I didn’t want to interrupt your conversation with Professor Slughorn,” I told him.

He grabbed a hold of my arm and wrapped it around his own as he started walking away, pulling me along. I felt as if I was some prized possession being shown off as he slowly strolled around the room aimlessly. Or at least I thought that it was an aimless stroll until I saw some mistletoe hanging from the ceiling not far away and in the direction we were headed. My mind began to work overtime trying to figure a way out of this dilemma; if he got me under the mistletoe I would be stuck in that spot until I was kissed. And there was no way that I wanted him to kiss me. At first, I tried to pull my arm out of his grasp, but he had a tight grip and wouldn’t be deterred.

I didn’t know what to do, but I knew that I couldn’t let him get me under that sprig of mistletoe. It didn’t matter if I thought that he was good looking, I just didn’t want him to kiss me. Besides, if Ron were to find out that I kissed someone else, he would never forgive me. It was one thing to try and make him jealous, but this would make him angry. I felt Cormac’s grip on me loosen slightly as we neared the mistletoe, and I took a chance, and pushed off of him, catching him by surprise and sending him into the trap of the mistletoe.

I stood rooted to my spot for a moment as I watched him try to move away but unable to do so. He looked at me, with a smirk on his face, and puckered his lips, waiting for me to come and release him. I couldn’t help the laugh that escaped my lips as I turned and left him behind, feeling sorry for the girl who would release him. Or maybe he wouldn’t be released, and would be stuck under that sprig until the party ended. I liked that thought, though I did feel bad for leaving him behind.

I looked for the nearest place that I could hide, and found a small section that was separated off from the rest of the room by curtains. It would at least be a good area for me to go and collect my thoughts, so I quickly made my way over to it. The curtains were all different colors and while they were a divider from the rest of the room, they were shear so I could still see the people moving around on the other side. I watched for a few moments as people walked by, completely ignoring the corner of the room I was hidden in. There were a few times that I thought someone was going to come back here, but at the last moment they would turn away. So it came to my surprise when suddenly, the curtains were ripped back. At first, I was afraid to look up, afraid that Cormac had found my hiding spot, and hoped that if I didn’t look at him, he would go away.

“Hermione, what are you doing?” the person spoke, and I instantly recognized the voice as Harry’s. I let out a small breath of relief and looked up at him.

“I’ve just escaped; I mean I’ve just left Cormac over there,” I said pointing in the direction that I had left Cormac. (*)

Harry shot me a strange look, wondering exactly what I had meant about escaping Cormac, but he didn’t say anything. I quickly peaked out around the curtain, and noticed that Cormac was headed in this direction and silently hoped that he would turn away like everyone else had. But of course, he was not to be deterred from me and eased his way back behind the curtain. I held my breath, hoping that he wouldn’t notice me as I tried sneaking away from where I had been looking out the curtains. I waited until I made it to the snack table to slow down and let out the breath of air.

I yawned and looked up at the clock, the party had already been going for over an hour now, and I decided that it was as good of a time as any to leave. There was no point in me staying, if I hadn’t made Ron jealous by then, I wouldn't have done it by staying any longer. Just as I was about to leave, a loud ruckus from the hallway made me stop in my tracks.

“Let’s just see what Professor Slughorn has to say about this,” Filtch drawled out as he dragged an irate Draco Malfoy behind him into the room.

“Alright, so I was going to crash the party,” Malfoy said, the room quieting down at the altercation in front of them.

I watched as Professor Snape swooped in and tugged on Draco and pulled him out of the room. There was definitely something strange going on with him but I still didn’t know what it was. If I had to hazard a guess though, it had to do something with the room of requirement; why else would he have been so adamant about keeping the events quiet. He even broke up with Pansy for mentioning it, so there had to be something that I was overlooking; I just wasn’t sure what it was.

Harry quickly made his way past me, the familiar cloth of his invisibility cloak tucked under his arm, and I moved to follow him. He was set in his thoughts that Draco was up to something, and while I agreed with him there, I did not think that Draco was capable of what Harry suggested. I watched as Harry quickly unfolded his cloak and threw it around him, disappearing from right in front of me.

“Harry,” I whispered harshly, not wanting anyone to overhear.

“Hermione! You gave me a right fright,” Harry said, pulling down the hood of the cloak so just the head of his body appeared.

“You don’t have to go after them, Harry. You don’t know that they are up to anything, so just-“

“Exactly Hermione, we don’t know for sure that they are up to anything, but this could prove it. Malfoy was trying to sneak about tonight before he got caught by Filch, I can guarantee it. I have to do this.”

With that, Harry disappeared under his cloak once more and I was left alone in the hallway. I was half tempted to follow after him but I knew that doing so would only make him mad at me, and I had already lost one friend this year, I wasn’t prepared to lose another. So instead, I turned and moved my tired body back towards Gryffindor tower. I had had enough excitement for one day.


	6. Chapter Six

The next morning brought with it the excitement of Christmas holidays beginning and I was happy to finally get a reprieve from my life at the castle. This year had definitely taken a spin in a direction I didn't think was going to happen. With Ron ending up with Lavender, the fact that I was not going to be spending my break at the Weasley household would be a welcome change. I wasn’t sure what my parents had planned for our time together but I was looking forward to it none the less. Since coming to Hogwarts, my relationship with my parents had taken a dive, they couldn’t exactly understand what it was that I spent the majority of my time doing. They still supported and loved me, but I couldn’t help but feel that my magic had driven a wedge in our relationship that could not be undone. 

I placed the last item in my trunk and lowered the lid on its contents as I let out a sigh. After this, there would only be three more terms between me and the end of my time at Hogwarts. It was a strange notion to think about, that I was almost done with my schooling, and a part of me ached at the thought of things changing. This year had proved to be a hard one on my relationships with Harry and Ron and we were still held together by the bounds of this castle, but what would happen once we left these walls? Would our friendship stand after we no longer had to see each other? Or would I once more become that girl I had been in our first year, friendless and afraid. I knew that I was really no longer that girl, I was not afraid of the things I had been then. And what I wouldn’t give now to have those things as my only fears instead of the things that now plagued me. They were fears that could do so much more to me than a fully grown Mountain Troll ever could. The fears of my mind were very much real and most days I had a hard time even fathoming their reality.

I tossed my thoughts aside and headed down to the library to spend the remainder of my time before boarding the Hogwarts Express reviewing the material that we would go over next term. The library was practically empty when I got there, one reason I enjoyed coming here at this time, and I plopped myself down at an unoccupied table and opened my charms book to the next section we would go over and began reading. I muttered the new charms under my breath as I practiced the wand movements under the table until I had committed the first five charms to memory. It was during the last flick of my wrist that a sound broke through the otherwise quiet library and I couldn't help but look up at the interruption.

Of course, I was not prepared to see Draco Malfoy at the source of the noise as he bent to pick up a thick tome which he must have dropped. From my position, I could see the scowl that marked his face announcing that he had not meant to make so much noise. I watched as he tossed a few looks over his shoulder to where Madame Pince was located and once he was satisfied that she was once more immersed in her duties, he slipped the book into his cloak and made a hasty exit.

I couldn't help but wonder what he needed that book for, and what information it would include, that he did not want his name attached to the book by checking it out. Of course, this wasn't the first time that he had acted strange this year between last night’s charade at Slughorn’s Christmas party, his spats with Pansy, and the incident in the Room of Requirement I was beginning to think that maybe this wasn’t strange behavior for him but rather the first time that I was actually noticing him. As I continued to mull over my new thoughts about Draco Malfoy, I couldn't help the curiosity that raged through me wanting to know what was so important about that book and why he was acting so strange. And it was with that thought that I realized maybe Harry had the right idea of following Professor Snape and Malfoy last night. There was not going to be any other way to figure it out, and for some reason, I felt like I needed to know.

At that, I snapped my book closed and rushed out of the library hoping that I hadn't let Draco get too far ahead of me. I skidded to a halt just outside the library doors as I noticed that Draco had only managed to make it a few feet down the hallway and was in a rather heated discussion with Pansy. I watched from my position as Pansy flailed her hands around in a dramatic gesture before she stormed past him. She shot me a look and with a glint in her eyes, she turned back towards Draco.

"See," she shouted out, causing the few students walking by to turn their heads in her direction, and then gestured towards me, "this is exactly what I'm talking about. How am I supposed to trust you when every time I turn around, she is there?" And at that, Pansy continued on her way, leaving a speechless hallway behind her.

I stood my ground as everyone shot looks between Draco and I, wondering what exactly it was that Pansy was talking about. And it was a question that I hoped that Draco would be able to answer for me. There was definitely something going on with him, and somehow I had gotten dragged into it, and now he was going to have no choice but to explain Pansy's outburst. I straightened my shoulders and took a step in Draco's direction, eyes following my every movement, but it seemed that Draco had other plans as he turned on his heel and stalked down the hallway at a rushed pace. However, I was not going to be deterred by his behavior, and I quickly followed behind him.

Chatter began immediately in my wake, with speculations of what Pansy had meant flittering between the small groups of people. I ignored them and continued on my way, trying not to lose Draco as he shoved wandering students aside and made sharp turns. At random intervals, he would glance over his shoulder, before straightening his shoulders once more and pressed on. I wasn’t sure exactly how long it was that I followed behind him but suddenly, he stopped up ahead of me.

“You know Granger, you’re being rather foolish right now,” he called out with his back still to me. “You see, you just blindly followed me throughout the castle, never once paying any attention to your surroundings. Had you done that, maybe you would have realised that I am not the only one being followed here.”

I let out a small gasp and looked behind me to find Crabbe and Goyle just down the hallway, fists clenched at their sides. I turned back to Draco and noticed that he was now facing me. “Just answer me one question Malfoy, and I’ll leave. What did Pansy mean by her outburst?”

“Now, now, Granger, did you really think that I was going to tell you just like that? It would seem to me that maybe you aren’t the brightest witch after all.” At that, Draco smirked and made some sort of gesture towards Crabbe and Goyle. I looked behind me once more to find the two slowly stocking their way towards my position and I turned back to Draco with wide eyes.

“Two can play at that game Malfoy. Maybe I don’t need to know exactly what she thinks is going on, she clearly doesn’t believe you and I would only have to confirm her suspicions about it and you would be ruined. I don’t even think your body guards would know who to believe and then where would you be?” I shot him a small smirk of my own but he didn’t appear to be worried.

“You wouldn’t dare Granger, because if you did, you could kiss your little Wonder boy Potter and Weasleby good-bye. Because, you see, the thing that Pansy is accusing me of is entangling myself with the likes of a Mudblood. And you can thank Weasleby’s girlfriend for that rumor which was then added upon by your own outburst in front of Pansy that day in the library. So really Granger, your involvement was brought on by your own stupidity, and not of my own doing. So why don’t you and boy Potter leave me alone, or things may just take a rather unfortunate turn for you.” At that, he shoved his way by me, and heaved his shoulder into mine on his way. 

I watched as he and Crabbe and Goyle walked away from me, leaving me to my thoughts. Was that really what Pansy had been speculating about? It didn’t even make sense. Everyone knew how much Draco disliked me, so how had Pansy even come to believe that we would be meeting up together? I understood that there had been a rumor about me back when Ron and Lavender first got together, but that rumor had long since quieted down after no other information had come forth on the event. There had to be some other reason for Pansy to believe that there was something else going but I just wasn’t sure what that could be.

After turning over my thoughts, and still finding myself no closer to an answer than I had been previously, I decided to head down and begin to make my way to the train. There had only been an hour before the train was set to leave when I left the library and I wasn’t sure how long it had taken me to get to my current location, let alone how long it would take me to find my way back. As I wandered the empty corridors, I began to think about how foolish I really had been. Draco was right, I had not paid any attention to my surroundings as I followed him blindly and now, I found myself unsure of where exactly in the castle I had ended up. There was something to say about this castle and the fact that you could live here for almost six years, and still have not seen everything that it had to offer. I walked by portraits I had never seen before and found dead end after dead end before I finally managed to find a familiar hallway. It was the hallway that had in many ways, brought my friendship with Ron and Harry into fruition.

My lips curved up in a smile as I recalled my experience in the third floor girls’ bathroom. I had been so upset at Ronald and the way that he had been talking about me to the other boys that I ran off to the bathroom as an escape. There had been a connection that I had felt between myself and Harry and Ron, and to hear Ron say that he thought I was a nightmare had hit me rather hard. I had tried for months to create any resemblance of a friendship with the girls that I shared a dorm with, but it had seemed that my love of studying was not something easily shared among the others and I was quickly cast aside as they giggled and gossiped. When Harry and Ron burst in the bathroom door and distracted the troll, I knew that I had finally found friends.

It wasn’t smooth sailing from there, that is for sure, and of course my friendship with Ron has always been a bit more on the rocky side but I knew that we would always be there for each other, no matter the situation. And with that thought, I came to a horrible realization, Lavender had been Ron’s troll so to speak, and instead of going to fight for him, I had stepped aside. Maybe it was time for me to forgive him and be at his side once more.

I ran the rest of the way to the entrance hall, dodging around slow moving couples and giggling friends. A large crowd had already begun to form near the doorway as they funneled out into the cool December day. I glanced around me, trying to spot either Harry or Ron among the students still left inside, but could not find them. My guess was that they still had yet to make their way down from Gryffindor Tower and I decided to continue on my way to reserve our compartment.

Outside the cool air nipped at my exposed face, though it was not completely an uncomfortable feeling, just one of a light tingling that forced a rosy pink color to my cheeks. The horseless carriages stood just as majestic as the day I first saw them, and I quickly threw myself in one that had an opening. After the events of earlier today, you would think that I would have paid more attention to my surroundings; however, I was just as foolish as I had been blindly following Draco. The carriage took off with a start, and I sat myself down in the empty seat before finally looking up at the other occupants.

Their noses were all turned up in disgust at my appearance and I knew without them saying anything, that I was not a welcome addition. Not that it mattered any now, once the carriage started, there would be no stopping it until it reached its destination. Pansy Parkinson and her usual group of Slytherin friends stared at me as I brushed the few snowflakes off of my shoulder. I was not going to show them how uncomfortable they made me and instead I looked around at the winter scenery. It was almost like a painting, what with the white capped trees, carriages being pulled through mounds of snow, and we even had the image of the ice covered lake in the distance. Of course, our carriages were horseless, and instead of a church, we had the Hogwarts castle standing tall and majestic.

“Filthy Mudblood,” I heard Pansy mutter under her breath beside me. At first, I had ignored her, the use of the word mudblood had long since lost its sting, but she soon began again. “I don’t know what he sees in you, you’re clearly not as attractive as me and then of course, there’s your linage, which is severely lacking. But I figure I’ll let my Drakey have his fun with you, and then when he’s ready to settle down, I know he’ll come crawling back to me.”

“Pansy,” I finally spoke up, “I’m not sure where you heard this nonsense about Malfoy and me, but there is nothing going on. You can have your Drakey,” I mocked her, “because frankly, I wouldn’t want him anyways.”

“How dare you defile his name,” she screeched, and I snorted, I think she had done a good enough job defiling his name without my help. “Just because he’s sneaking around with you doesn’t make you any better. As a matter of fact, it makes you nothing but a low life slut. I know that you’ve been meeting up on the seventh floor; I’ve followed him there enough times. I may not have been able to catch you in the act, but I was there, the night that all the rumors began about you. I watched as you ran down the hallway, your head ducked out of sight, and then moments later, Draco emerged. Since that night, he has hardly wanted to be with me, and it’s all your fault. But you’ll see soon enough that Draco is just using you, and then you’ll be left behind once more.”

The carriage soon came to a stop after her outburst and I sat rooted to my spot as she and her friends stampeded onto the awaiting train. It seemed that the harder I tried to untangle myself from Draco Malfoy, the more knotted that everything became. And it would seem that it all came back to that one night, that one night that I hated more than any other night in this castle so far, the night that Gryffindor won their Quidditch match against Slytherin, the night that Ron began dating Lavender. 

The Hogwarts Express popped out from its otherwise white backdrop in front of me, and it let out a shrill whistle to indicate that there would be ten minutes before it began its departure. Hogwarts students were busy enjoying the last few minutes in the cool outside air before they had to succumb to a day long journey. Laughter and cheers rang out around me, as snowballs were tossed and small forts were made. I couldn't help but smile at their behavior and wished that Harry and Ron had been here so we could join in on the fun. It wasn't very often that the three of us participated in frivolous things like snowball fights, but I could easily recall the few times that they had convinced me to take part in the activities. It was with great clarity that I could remember the cool wetness as a snowball connected with my shoulder and chunks lodged itself down my jacket. And then suddenly, it wasn't just a memory as I felt a snowball shatter against the back of my head and the pieces begun to melt on my neck and cool droplets started to soak my shirt. I looked around; trying to find out who had sent it in my direction, but everyone was still running around chasing after their friends. I decided to chalk it up to a rogue snowball and wiped away its residue as I stepped onto the train.

Most of the carriages were still open, and I quickly ducked into an empty compartment and sighed as I realized just how nice the warmth of the train felt against my rosy cheeks. I sat down in the seat nearest the window and watched as the wind lifted up small tufts of the fresh blanket of snow and swirled it around. The train let out another shrill whistle indicating that there was only five minutes left until the train would be leaving the station behind and soon, the hallways filled with loud chatter as many of the students began searching for a compartment to nestle up in. I stared as group after group, continued by without so much as a glance in my direction and I sighed and continued to look out the window, it was going to be a lonely trip.

The compartment door suddenly slid open and I perked up at the sound and looked over to the newest occupants hoping to find Harry and Ron. I slunk back in my seat a bit as I recognized the faces, and while they were welcome company, they were not the two boys I had been hoping to see.

"Alright there, Hermione," Neville asked as he flopped himself into the seat across from me.

"Yeah, I'm alright Neville. How are you?"

"My Gran and I are going to see my parents over Christmas," he said under his breath, not wanting to alert the other occupants of his plans, "but then she has agreed to take me to this greenery in Scotland that houses a few rare herbs. So it shouldn't be an overall horrible vacation."

"No Neville, that sounds like a wonderful vacation. My parents seem to be rather excited that I'll be coming home this Christmas but I imagine it's just going to be a normal gathering at my grandparents’ house on my mother's side. The most exciting thing that can happen is that my grandfather tends to indulge a little too much with his drinks and for the most part will be passed out just after lunch is over."

"How about you Luna," Neville said turning to the blonde next to him, "what are your plans for Christmas?"

"Oh, daddy and I are celebrating with his parents. We're having a medieval Pennsylvanian wizard Christmas. Hunting for Moon Frogs, eating Bilywig stew and roasting Chizpurfle toast over a fire. It was always Mum's favorite way to celebrate."

I just nodded my head at her excited chatter, to be honest, I understood almost none of what she said, although, that was to be expected when one considered that it was Luna Lovegood we were talking to. Ginny plopped herself down next to me and looked miserable. I had a small inkling that I knew exactly what was bothering her but decided to ask.

"What's wrong Ginny?"

"Oh, it's Dean again. He's just upset that I won’t go visit him over the holidays and that I don't want him to come to the burrow either," she bemoaned.

“Ginny, did you ever think that maybe you and Dean just weren’t meant to be? It seems like you two are fighting more often than not lately, maybe the holiday break is just what you both need to figure out if this is really the best thing for you both,” I told her thinking about Harry and the feelings that he held for her.

“I know you’re right, you’re always right after all, but I do like Dean. I don’t know,” she sighed, “I just don’t want to hurt him.”

“Dean is a great guy,” I agreed, “but you need to make sure that you’re both on the same page in the relationship. Sometimes two really great people don’t make a great couple, no matter how hard they try, just something to think about.”

Ginny sighed and looked out the compartment door just in time to watch as Dean walked by with Seamus, both laughing about something. Dean looked over his shoulder and caught Ginny’s gaze. He shot her a small smile before continuing on his way, and Ginny sighed deeper before she turned her attention to the seat next to her and picked at the peeling fabric.

The train lurched and let out another piercing whistle as it began the journey to Kings Cross Station. Silence cloaked the compartment suffocating me, and I yearned for the usual vulgar nature that sitting with Harry and Ron could be. Across from me, I could hear Neville strike up a conversation with Luna about Moon Frogs and I tuned them out and my attention back out the window to the changing scenery. On the bright side, there was only six more hours to go before we would be at Kings Cross.


	7. Chapter Seven

The train ride to King’s Cross was uneventful. The cabin was filled with light chatter and laughter as they all regaled about their past Christmases and the humorous things that their family members wound up doing after indulging a little too much. I nodded along and would occasionally add in my own comment or two about my favorite memories of past Christmases though I mostly spent my time reading up on the new charms we would be learning at the return of classes.  
As we began to near the station, I watched as Neville’s demeanor started to change. At first it was small, his smile not quite as big and the sparkle in his eye every time he looked at Luna was a little less bright. And then his contributions to the conversation came to a halt and he merely listened as Luna and Ginny continued talking.  
With the last loud whistle, the train came to a stop and the outside cabin doors hissed open. Students quickly began to fill the hall outside waiting impatiently to disembark from the train and see their family members once more. Luna and Ginny quickly squeezed their way into the throng of people both shouting out their goodbyes.  
“You know, Neville,” I said as I crossed the small distance to sit next to him on the bench, “I think that you’re brave. And I think that your parents would be proud of you. Tell them I said hi.”  
With that, I stood up and grabbed my trunk and began to make my way out towards the platform. I paused briefly at the door to our cabin when I heard Neville ask quietly, “Do you really think that I’m brave?”  
“Of course I do, Neville,” I said, looking back at him with a small smile. I was glad to see that a small smile of his own appeared on his face at my admission.  
I stepped out onto the platform and looked around trying to spot my parents somewhere in the crowd of people. They weren’t always well known for their timing but I was pleasantly surprised when I found them near a large group of redheads. I made my way over to them and quickly hugged them both, thankful that I didn’t have to wait for them this year.  
“Look at my beautiful girl,” my father said proudly as he grabbed my trunk from my hand. “Your mother and I have a surprise for you this Christmas, and I think it’s one that you’re really going to like.”  
“We’re going to Stonehenge,” my mother squealed, pulling me in for another hug, her excitement getting the best of her.  
“What?! When are we leaving?” I asked as new thoughts of a much more exciting Christmas ran through my mind.  
My father looked down at his watch pretending to contemplate the amount of time we had before we left for our vacation. “Right now,” he said and turned towards the Weasley’s and extended his hand out to them. “It was great seeing you again. Hopefully it won’t be as long until our next run in.”  
“Yes,” Mr. Weasley smiled as he grabbed ahold of my father’s hand. “And next time you must tell me more about this game of football you were talking about.”  
“Oh yes, it really is a rather interesting game-“  
I quickly cut him off, knowing that he could easily go on for another few hours about his favorite sport. “I hate to cut you off Dad, but if I want to get to Stonehenge before Christmas break ends, we really should get going. Happy Christmas everyone.”  
The trip to Stonehenge was uneventful. I spent the few hours sitting in the back of my parents car telling them about my classes at Hogwarts this year and how the lessons were going. I made sure not to mention the heightened security there this year as well as staying far away from the topic of Ronald Weasley. I even went so far as changing the topic any time my parents tried bringing up the Weasleys. After their third attempt of mentioning them, they began to realize that something was going on and left the topic alone.   
The next few days were spent wandering around the new town and enjoying being in each others company. Being with my parents in this setting reminded me of the trips that we used to take to the Forest of Dean when I was younger. That was a time before I knew I was a witch. There were days though that I missed the relationship that I used to have with my parents before Hogwarts swept me off into a different world entirely.   
At first, the change in our relationship was subtle. Conversations started getting more confusing, their smiles not quite reaching all the way, the hushed whispers when I was home for the holidays,and then came the comments of fear before returning to school this year. I tried my best to explain and ease their fears but even now, days into our vacation, their smiles were still forced. 

The days flew by quickly and suddenly, it was mere minutes away from Christmas day and my parents were fast asleep in the bed next to mine but I could not sleep yet. There was this tradition I had since I was little and the excitement of Christmas day was too much for my younger self to handle. Every year on Christmas Eve, I would stay awake and watch as the clock changed over to signal the arrival of the next day, of Christmas day. Before I got my letter to Hogwarts, Christmas had always been my favorite day of the year. All of the celebrations, families getting together, and the presents. And while I now preferred the arrival of September 1st, Christmas Day was still my second favorite day of the year.  
I looked over at the bedside table and the green numbers illuminated 11:58. There were still two minutes left until Christmas was finally upon us and I felt that itching desire to move. Silently, I moved out of bed and crossed the small distance over to the large window and slightly pulled back the drapes trying to let in as little light as possible. Outside the night was partially cloudy and the ground covered and a blanket of shimmering snow. Everything was still and quiet.  
And then suddenly it wasn’t.  
In the not too far off distance, I began to see flashes of light and a loud boom tore through the night. I jumped back away from the window just as I caught a glimpse of the disgusting mark now twirling around in the night sky. It was green in color and had a sort of mist coming off from it but the image was still the same. There, up in the sky, was the Dark Mark. The sign of death and destruction. I had only seen the mark one other time just over two years ago at the Quidditch World Cup. I could remember the screams, chaos, and torture that happened right in front of me that night and I was sure that tonight would be the same.  
I watched, rooted to my spot, as my parents bolted out of bed and began scrambling around the room pulling pants on over their pajamas and checking to make sure they had everything they needed. I knew that I should be helping them, that I should get them out of there. But instead, I watched and I soaked in each detail of them. It was when the second boom sounded that jolted me out of my thoughts and forced me to take action. We were only on the fourth floor but that still meant that we had four flights of stairs to get down to be on ground level. And once we got down there, there was no safe place to go. The town was being taken over; turned to ashes and dust.   
My parents were right behind me as we joined the rush of the crowd trying to force their way through the doors. Screams and crying could be heard in every direction as families tried to yell out for each other, hands reaching through the crowd trying to grab onto someone. No one knew what was going on, just that their lives were in jeopardy and that they had to run. I finally made it to the doorway and forced myself through the people and turned towards the right.   
It was hard to say which direction would be the best. On the one hand, I knew that the Death Eaters were coming from the front side of the building. But on the other hand, I did not know if they were also coming from the other side of town to try to trap the town’s occupants inside. But it didn’t matter if this was the right path or not as I had already started down it and I could not afford to lose any time.   
“I have an idea,” I said, turning back towards my parents, but the rest of my sentence was cut off when I realized that my parents were no longer behind me. I turned in a circle, my heart in my throat as I looked for their familiar faces in the crowd of people around me but I could not see them. They must have been forced in a different direction when we left the hotel and now there was no saying where they were headed.   
The sound of glass shattering and buildings being blasted away continued to thunder through the night. I could hear chanting, and spells being cast not too far away and I knew that I needed to start running again. If they found me here there was no telling what they would do, but I knew that it would be much worse than anything they had already done that night.   
Up ahead of me was a mostly abandoned road. Only a few people were left running down the path and I knew in my gut that was the direction I needed to go. I could not let myself worry and think about my parents right now. I knew that they would make it somewhere safe and they would call me when they felt like it would be safe to do so. My feet began to move under me taking me where I wanted to go, leaving the chaos mostly behind me. 

Off to my left I could hear someone screaming and I turned to look, hoping that a Death Eater had not made it this far into the town already. It took me a moment to find the source of the screams and when I did, my heart stopped. It was a little boy, not much older than four or five wandering around the alleyway between buildings. He must’ve been separated from his parents as well as there was no one else in sight. 

At least, there was no one else in sight until a black cloaked figure appeared at the otherside of the alleyway and my heart stopped short. 

For a moment, I couldn’t think of anything.Not a single spell came to mind that could help me. All that registered in my mind was the fear running through me, and it rooted me to my spot. I was afraid and didn’t know what to do. I knew that if Harry had been here, he would know what to do. And it was at this moment that I realized, there was a big difference between Harry and me. I was smart, smarter than most, and could think logically about almost any situation. But Harry, Harry just knew what to do in the moment. He didn’t need to spend his time studying. When a situation presented itself to him, he just jumped in and found a way out of it.

I wished at that time that I was more like him, that I could just figure out a way out of this.   
As quickly as my fear had settled in, it left and with it a desire to prove to Harry and everyone else that I wasn’t just the sidekick, or the smart one, took over and I ran. I knew that I wasn’t going to let myself down and that I had to help and make sure that everyone else here was safe. 

So I ran. 

I ran towards the screaming child only a few yards away, and quickly grabbed his hand as I continued to run. I didn’t know who he was, but I knew that he was lost and without me, he would be dead at the hand of Death Eaters.

Adrenaline raced through me, spurring me on and I could feel the little boy’s hand try to yank away from me, unsure if he could trust me. I knew that I should probably try to calm him down, to reassure him that I was good—but my mouth was dry and pausing for even a moment could cost us both our lives. The boy was screaming in fear as I hurried him along the path

The chanting continued behind me as the many footfalls of the Death Eaters gave a beat to the night. For each step they took, I took two hurried ones. I hoped that I could lose them among the throngs of buildings, twisting and turning through them with no real pattern or destination in mind, just that I needed to get away from them. I knew that trying to go into the buildings would not be safe, many were already set on fire, and I was sure that the others were soon to be a scorched mess as well. Really, the safest place to be, was outside, and running as far away as you could. Though you were still in danger of getting hit by a spell, the risk was much less than the sure destruction that would be found sitting in a building.

Soon the sounds of screams began to grow faint, and I paused for a moment, needing to catch my breath. I turned to the young boy and looked him over. His face was streaked with tears and there were a few scratches visible on his pale legs and arms. But for the most part, he looked alright. I bent down next to him and loosened my hold around his wrist.

“Hey,” I said my voice a bit shaky both from fear as well as from running. “My name is Hermione, I’m going to make sure you’re safe alright?”

“I want my mom,” the little boy hiccupped as another round of tears began to stream down his face.

“I know you do, and I promise I’m going to get you back to her, but for now, we need to keep running, alright?” He nodded and I grabbed for his hand, clasping his small fingers through mine, and starting running once more.

I could smell the thick scent of the smoke and burning objects in the air and I struggled to keep my breath. Between the running and the smoke, it was hard to keep my breathing normal and I was soon finding myself coughing and wheezing with each breath I took. I knew that it was going to be hard to continue at the pace I was, so I slowed it down to a fast walk, hoping that this was going to be enough to keep me ahead of the Death Eaters.

Screams could still be heard throughout the town around me and I could no longer tell if I was getting farther away from them, or closer. I stopped at the next street and looked around. It was mostly empty, a few people running about, trying to find cover. I watched as a couple ducked into the lobby of a building and had to hold back a gurgle of a scream as the doors blasted to pieces behind them. Their bodies lay still on the ground only just inside the otherwise empty building. Flames quickly caught inside, and I knew that this street wasn’t safe. I had to turn back but I knew that it wasn’t safe going that way either.

I couldn’t help but wonder, just how many Death Eaters were we dealing with here? Was there anything that was going to stop them from their path of destruction or was everything here meant to burn to the ground? I feared that I knew that answer and couldn’t help the tears that began to fall from my eyes. Was I going to get out of this? Was the little boy going to get out of here and see his parents again? And what about my parents? I hadn’t allowed myself to think about them before, but now they were at the forefront of my mind. Had they managed to escape the Death Eaters, or were they among the lifeless bodies strewn about the town?

For the first time, I realized how bad things were getting. Inside of Hogwarts, we were safe from any Death Eater attacks, and I wondered just how many other attacks like this one had gone unnoticed by the Wizarding population? How many people had died without any notice?

I quickly turned and ran, pulling the little boy behind me, hoping that I had made the right choice. Things seemed a bit quieter over here, but as I had discovered with the last street that didn’t necessarily equate to safety. I felt like I was trapped inside a deadly maze, with no proper way to get out and I could feel my nerves begin to prick at my mind.

All around the town, I could see stocks of smoke billowing out of building after building. Shards of glass glittered the ground and I could hear them crunching under my feet as I continued to move as fast as I could in the polluted air. I turned a corner and stopped fast.

Standing there in front of me was one of the last people I ever expected to see this far away from Hogwarts. His black robes made him fade into the darkness of the brick building behind him, but it was his pale blonde hair that gave his position away. Unlike the Death Eaters wreaking havoc across the town, Draco’s face was curiously unmasked. For a brief moment, I hoped that this meant that he was not one of them but the sound of bricks breaking apart and the screams of those being tortured quickly broke those thoughts.

“You must really have a knack for staying in places that you shouldn’t, Granger,” Malfoy said as he pushed off the side of the building and began walking towards her.

“What does that mean, Malfoy?” I asked, even though every part of me told me to get away from him and judging by the small tug on my arm the little boy felt the same way.

“It means Granger, that if you’re seen, the screams of torture that you’ve been hearing across the town will soon be joined with your own. And even with knowing this you still tie yourself down with him,” he sneered at the little boy. “Weasley was bad enough tripping over his own two feet but you’re never going to get anywhere with this boy slowing you down.”

“I don’t care what you think Malfoy. Just because you don’t have enough of a heart in your body to care for one moment for someone other than you doesn’t mean that the rest of us are the same.”

At that moment, a loud crack and shards of brick and dust began to rain down on them causing the little boy to once more cry out and pull on my hand. I berated myself for even sticking around for the few moments I had, moments that I would not be able to get back to create more distance between myself and the wizards causing destruction. As the boy began to pull on my hand a second time, I felt my feet finally begin moving once more.

We only got a few steps away when Malfoy called out, “Keep that head of yours down, Granger. And,” he paused for a brief moment as the sounds of spells being cast came closer, “go left.” And then he turned heading towards the sounds of pounding footfalls and smashing windows.

Left in his wake, I only had a brief moment to decide if I was going to follow his advice and go left or continue going to the right like we had been before he called out to me. My heart was pounding in my chest and my head hurt but I felt my feet begin to move. Maybe I would regret my decision to trust the pale blonde Slytherin but for some reason, I began to pull the little boy off to the left, pulling my head down slightly to stare at the path just ahead of me.


	8. Chapter Eight

It was hours later and I was still unsure why, but also thankful, that Draco Malfoy had given me the advice to go left instead of continuing to the right. Chances were that he saved my life in that moment, he may have been a schoolyard bully but in that small moment he let me see more of him than he ever had before. A boy who seemed to have too much on his plate and the crushing weight of it all on his shoulders. I knew this look well, as it was one I saw in the eyes of my best friend Harry almost every day. 

The damaged buildings in the town were still sending up plumes of smoke to the too dark early morning sky that was marred by the disgusting Dark Mark put there by the Death Eaters. From my spot on a small hill on the outskirts of town I could hear people beginning to call out in search for those left under the rubble who still needed saving or just looking to be reunited with their loved ones. I knew soon my parents would call for me but each moment of silence fed into my thoughts fueled by my anxiety that maybe something had happened to them. Maybe they weren’t going to be calling me at all. 

I sat there, lost in my spiraling thoughts of the night we had had and the repercussions that was soon to come from it. Beside me, the little boy turned over in his sleep, letting out a small noise as his body stretched itself out. I had concealed us in a small bubble charmed with warmer air not long after the boy had fallen asleep knowing that the otherwise cool winter air would not have let him sleep for long. The charmed bubble was supposed to protect us from being seen from others and while no one had come near the area I was fairly certain it was working. 

The sound of my phone ringing pierced the air and I quickly reached into my pocket to pull it out, hoping that the noise wouldn’t wake up the little boy. 

“Mom.”

“Oh Hermione, thank goodness you’re alright. You are alright, right?” My mom asked on the other end of the line. 

“Yes, I’m alright. What about you and dad?”

“We’re good, just a few minor scrapes but we’ll be good as new soon. Where are you, we’ll come and get you.”

I explained to them my location and we said our goodbyes. I was about to hang up the phone when I glanced down at the sleeping boy and called out, “oh, wait, there’s something you should know before you get here. There’s a boy here with me, maybe about five or so. We’re both fine but I have no idea who his parents are, or even where to find them.” With that, we hung up. 

“Hermione, your father and I were talking on our way over here, and we think that maybe,” my mom paused for a brief moment before continuing. “We think that maybe you should come home with us given everything that’s happened here.” 

“You can’t be serious?!”

“Well, actually pumpkin, we are. Clearly something is going on in that world of yours and we can’t protect you if you’re at school.”

“You can’t protect me even if I stay at home with you,” I all but yelled at them and then immediately regretted saying anything as they flinched at the fierceness of the words. I knew that they meant well but the destruction that happened last night only continued to fuel my need to do more. Voldemort wasn’t going to stop and neither was I. “What I mean to say is that the only way I know that things might even get remotely better, is if I go back to school. Running and hiding away will not solve the problem and going back to Hogwarts will ensure that I have the resources and skills I need to fight.”

“But that’s just it dear,” my mom said placing a hand on my shoulder, “you’re sixteen you shouldn’t have to fight.”

“War doesn't discriminate against age, Mom. When they come, they won’t care that I’m only sixteen or if I’m at home, on vacation, or even at school. Going home right now with you would only make you guys targets, even more so than you already are because of me. And next time we all might not be so lucky to escape with only scrapes and bruises. I know it’s scary, and I know that it’s hard to let me go after everything you both witnessed last night, but I need you both to trust me. I need to get back to Hogwarts.” 

“You’ve always been so headstrong, Hermione, and maybe you’re right, you wouldn’t be better off at home but it’s not always easy for us to drop you off for months at a time with the world the way it is. We just want you to be safe. Promise me you’ll write us letters?”

“Every week if it will make you feel better, Mom. I love you guys and I really appreciate everything you have done for me.” 

My dad picked up the little boy off of the ground, careful to not jostle him around much. “Come on, let’s get this boy to someone who can help him find his family and what do you say we go and spend the last bit of your Christmas break enjoying our time at home.” 

“I think home is exactly what we need right now,” I muttered more to myself as I followed after my parents back into the damaged town.   
-  
Later that day as I sat in the comfort of my childhood home I began to realize something that I had not thought of before, or at least that I had not let myself subconsciously think about before, and that was the fact that I was a danger to my parents. Just being home put them at risk but I also knew that it really wouldn’t matter if I was home or not if the Death Eaters came knocking, they would kill my parents regardless. I knew that it was complete happenstance that they showed up at our vacation spot just like it was happenstance that I ran into Draco Malfoy on those streets. 

But I also couldn’t help but feel like maybe it wasn’t complete happenstance that Death Eaters showed up and destroyed the town that I was staying in. Being a friend of Harry’s definitely put me higher up on the list of witches wanted by the Death Eaters, add in the fact that I was muggleborn, the very thing they were against, and I’m sure they would love nothing better but to capture and torture me. 

“Hermione dear, would you like a cuppa or maybe some hot chocolate? I could even throw in a few of those little marshmallows you loved so much,” my Mum asked as she placed a gentle hand on my shoulder. 

“I’m good, but thank you, Mum.” 

“You know your father and I are so proud of you, but you know that it’s okay to say that everything that’s going on is too much. You’re only a teenager after all, noone expects you to have to bear so much weight on your shoulders. You wouldn’t be a failure if you decided to stay home and continue regular schooling.”

“I thought we talked about this already, Mum, I’m going back to Hogwarts not because I feel like I have to but because I want to. Things might be escalating, but Hogwarts is the safest place to be.” 

I felt her hand slip away from my shoulder as she turned and walked away leaving me to my thoughts once more. It was true that Hogwarts was one of the safest places to be, but it was also the only place that had the answers I needed. Somewhere in one of the many tomes of library books was a spell that I could use to keep my parents safe and I was determined to find it.   
-

The scarlet train stood majestic against the brick background of the hidden platform, waiting patiently to take the many students back to Hogwarts for the second half of the school year. For the first time since my first year at Hogwarts, I took an extra moment to take in the train and the people surrounding it. I had taken to appreciating things a little more than I had before my run in with the Death Eaters on Christmas Day. It truly was a magical sight to see, the large train with smoke beginning to billow out of it’s smokestack as it started to get ready for it’s journey to Hogwarts. 

In the distance, I could see Harry and Ron board the train with Ginny following along behind them. Maybe it was time to swallow a bit of my own pride and finally talk with Ron again. I made a step in their direction but stopped suddenly when I spotted Lavender Brown running quickly to catch up to them and all thoughts of speaking with Ron flew out of my mind. I turned and boarded the train, choosing instead to find a spot to myself rather than head towards the back of the train where I knew the rest of the Gryffindor’s often spent the ride hanging out. 

I passed by many full compartments of friends reuniting and sharing stories of their Christmas breaks. Seeing them all so happy brought a small feeling of loneliness and jealousy at the appearance of their easy friendships. Being a friend of Harry Potter was anything but easy and each year has brought us new challenges but it seemed that some events were doomed to repeat themselves. That was the thing about having a close group of three people, when two of them fight, the third has to choose a side. 

After walking down about half of the train, I finally found an empty compartment and quickly pulled back the doors to claim the compartment as my own. 

“I have to know, Malfoy, why’d you do it?” I looked him in the eyes as I asked him the question that has been burning in the back of my mind. “Why did you save my life?”

“It doesn’t matter why I did it, just leave it alone.”

“But it does matter, it matters to me anyways. You’ve always hated me after all, this was your chance to finally get rid of the dirty blood.” 

“That’s where you’re wrong, Granger,” Draco said as he took a step closer to me, closing the already small space that had been between us. “I did it because-”

But I didn’t find out why he did it because two things happened almost at the same time. First, the train lurched causing Malfoy to crash into me, his face only a mere breath away from my own. And then a shrill voice called out from the other end of the train carriage causing Malfoy to take a step backwards and both of us turned to face the new person. 

“Draco,” a very upset Pansy Parkinson called out once more. 

“What do you want Pansy?”

“Well, I was coming to see if maybe you wanted some alone time with me, but it looks as if you’ve already found someone. A word of advice though Draco, you might want to be a little more discreet about who you are spending your time with. I would hate for your father to find out the sort of filth you are consorting with.” With that, Pansy turned around and walked away.

“Now look what you’ve done, Granger. She barely believed me that something wasn’t going on before break because of that stupid Weaslebee-”

“Ron, what does he have to do with anything Malfoy?”

“Pansy heard him going on about that night in the Room of Secret Things-”

“You mean the Room of Requirement?”

“Sure, whatever you call it, she heard him talk about how you were meeting up with someone in secret and then you just had to come over and tell her that I was there. Pansy has a pretty active imagination and that filled in the blanks for her. Even when I tried denying it she wouldn’t believe me, because there you would be in the distance.”

“That’s absurd!”

“You’re telling me, Granger. And now because of all of this, Pansy’s been busy trying to catch me in some lie that isn’t even a lie.” 

“I know it doesn’t mean anything to you Malfoy, but I’m sorry for Ron’s part in her actions and in turn without knowing it, my own. But I still have to know why you saved me. I mean the past five and a half years that we’ve known each other, we’ve been at odds, and we haven’t always shown our best sides to each other. So why now?”

“Because, Granger,” he all but yelled, pulling at his blonde hair. “Because I couldn’t have your blood on my hands. Even if it is dirty blood.”

“But yet you could live with the blood of everyone else in that town on your hands?”

“Yes.”

“That still doesn’t explain why you didn’t want my blood on your hands. Any time anything has gone bad here, you’ve expressed your wishes that it would happen to me. If you would’ve just left me to my own devices I would have ended up in the path of the other Death Eaters and you would’ve finally gotten rid of me.”

“I can’t explain it, Granger. I just- I saw you and I couldn’t-. You know what, I don’t have to explain myself to the likes of you.” 

And just like that,Draco Malfoy disappeared down the train corridor and slid into a compartment and I was alone with my thoughts and even more questions than I had started with.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: Currently this chapter has not gone through a beta yet. I'm in the process of finding one so I do apologize for errors in this chapter. Let me know what you guys are thinking of the story so far! Thanks to everyone who has read this story, gave it a kudo, or have bookmarked it so far! Starting my work on chapter nine soon! ~Slytherinchica08~


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